The flu is gaining ground in France. In the middle of the end-of-year celebrations, France is on red alert in the face of the epidemic. The point by department.
It’s not just Covid and bronchiolitis that caregivers face. A red wave of flu also affects the whole country. In its latest weekly bulletin published on Wednesday December 28, 2022, Public Health France notes a “continued increase in influenza indicators in all age groups”. Concretely, the seasonal virus circulates very actively in France. Consultations for an influenza-like illness are climbing, as are emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
In the hospital, 4% of beds occupied by flu patients
Nationwide, during the week of December 19 to 25 (latest up-to-date data), a 52% increase in emergency room visits due to a flu-like symptom was recorded compared to the previous week, bringing the total number, across the country, to 19,242. The cases even seem more worrying since the hospitalization rate has, for its part, increased more sharply with 2,738 patients treated (+75%). It should be noted, however, that on the scale of all hospitalized persons, patients treated for influenza represent 4.1% of occupied beds, against 2.3% the previous week.
Etienne Decroly confirmed the virulence of the flu this year at the microphone of France info. First, the level of immunization has dropped compared to years spent masked to protect against Covid, so a release after three years hits harder. Then for the director of research at the CNRS at the University of Aix-Marseille, “a mutation, which appeared in the virus, partially escapes the vaccine”. Hence a vaccination not as effective as hoped, especially since the vaccination figures are low.
Which departments are most affected by the flu?
In these latest data published on December 28, Public Health France indicated that, for the week between December 19 and 25, “all regions were in the epidemic phase and the alert levels were identical to those of the previous week”, adding that the Hauts-de-France, Île-de-France, Normandy and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions were the most affected regions.
In more detail, these data suggest a stronger presence of influenza in the north of France. The rate of medical procedures performed by SOS Médecins was highest in Normandy (3,3334 influenza-related procedures out of 10,000 performed) and in Île-de-France (2,928). The rates of visits to the emergency room for influenza confirm this trend since, in Île-de-France, 894 out of 10,000 are linked to the virus, 747 in Hauts-de-France, 641 in Normandy. It should also be noted that 567 passages in the emergencies of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, out of 10,000, are also linked to the flu.
What about the flu vaccination?
Vaccination is stalling in France. Recently interviewed by the JDD on vaccination against influenza in France, the Minister of Health, François Braun announced that this campaign was less followed than in previous years and that France was doing less well “than some of our European neighbors”. However, the minister wanted to be optimistic “we are catching up: on the flu, for example, last week we were still at – 10% injections compared to last year, we are now at – 2% “.
Etienne Decroly, still interviewed by France info considered that getting vaccinated now was “borderline” but that if the epidemic tends to last “there is still time to get vaccinated” because it can help people at risk to be immunized in about ten days, the time the vaccine to work.
It’s possible to take a test to detect the flu!
“A flu syndrome is not necessarily the flu” summed up the biologist Sylvie Behillil at the Pasteur Institute. Indeed, other respiratory viruses such as Covid or rhinovirus may be symptomatically similar. Like a Covid test, it is possible to perform a flu test by looking for contaminated cells in the nose. This is a TROD (rapid diagnostic orientation test) which is most often carried out in pharmacies during an epidemic as at present. This test must be carried out within 24 or 48 hours after the appearance of the first symptoms.
What are the symptoms of the flu?
On the site of theHealth Insuranceit is indicated that after contamination, the disease declares itself within approximately 48 hours, with “a high fever (around 39°C) accompanied by chills, intense fatigue, a feeling of depression with loss of appetite, diffuse muscular (aches) and joint pain, headaches, then a dry and painful cough”.